Gravity A Nation of Our Own
by ElfMaidenOfLight
Summary: He didn't know why he had brought her here; she just wanted to see the ocean. Two days. Forty-six hours to be exact. That's how long the government could function without her, and Relena had jumped at the chance vacation. She wanted was to see the ocean, and so they had ended their journey where he'd washed up on shore. Post EW. Preventers era. [Reverse Big Bang 2013]


**Gravity | A Nation of Our Own**

* * *

A/n- This snapshot-story inspired by a selection of songs from Ryuu's fanmix 'A Nation of Our Own' for the 2013 Gundam Wing Reverse Big Bang. For complete list, see the note at the bottom.

* * *

**One. The Real World by Adam Young. **

"I forget you have a bad habit of running off."

At his words she turned from the railing, eyes wide and lips parted in surprise, like he'd caught her doing something improper. Her gold and gunmetal waistcoat wrinkled as her body twisted toward him.

Heero, back pressed up against the door frame, shoved his hands into his pockets. He'd been watching her for a few uninterrupted minutes, but eventually couldn't help himself.

Her eyebrow rose, as if to say _look who's talking_.

For the first time in a long while she hadn't been the political guest of honor, so she'd been able to slip away from the other attendees. And her security detail. Him. Per usual. His silent willingness to stay by her side no longer surprised either of them, let alone their co-workers and friends.

The war was a few years behind them now.

Relena hid her smile and turned back away, clutching the stone edge of the rooftop's balcony to look out over the city.

"I seem to keep forgetting," he heard her say. "Wherever I go my shadow's sure to follow." When he didn't respond, she added, "I just had to get away, Heero, I mean, look at it…" She gestured out over the city.

At that he pushed off from where he stood and came up beside her, eyes following her outstretched fingertips over what lay before them. The sight of Japan in autumn made a small smile curl his lips. In the early evening, the dying sun glittered over the tiled rooftops; through the pockets of turning tree leaves sprouting up from cloistered courtyards and lining busy city streets.

It had been a long time since either of them had set foot in this country, but it was just as beautiful as he remembered.

A light, rustling breeze, still warm, caught them both and tugged at Relena's hair.

They stood together for a long moment.

Heero drew in a deep breath of air through his nose. He could understand Relena's rapture at the sight of it all. She worshiped this land, and it was no secret that he loved the Earth. Yes, the colonies would always be his birthplace, but Earth was his home.

Home.

It had taken a very long time for that word to warrant anything to him, other than sarcastic dismissal. Of course, Relena was largely to blame for that.

Eventually, in a low murmur and watching the sky, he admitted, "It's peaceful."

"It certainly is," she said with strange nostalgia. "I find myself consistently surprised at how beautiful a city _can_ be when it's not on fire."

They both fell silent.

The war was over, it was true, but some memories still seared unpleasantly bright.

Mobile suits up-ended in the square. Pockets of flame curling into the softly snowing night.

Heero tried to shrug off the unpleasant feeling that made his arms tense. Instead he laid his hand upon the railing and gave the woman next to him a small smile.

"You've worked hard for this."

She swallowed, looking serious. "So have you."

"Hn," he murmured, in a tone that meant he didn't seriously believe her.

Her hand, lying next to his, clenched.

Ah, so she was in one of those brooding moods.

"Relena…"

She looked at him, but her gaze quickly dropped to where his fingers had closed over her fist.

She was an excellent politician, a seasoned leader and stunning symbol for them all, and she took that burden willingly and without regret. From someone who had lived their life mostly cloaked in death and shadow, Heero Yuy still stood by what he'd told her on Libra four years ago. He was nothing compared to her. Relena tended to disagree.

"I thought you came up here to watch the skyline, not reminisce." he said evenly in a calm, almost detached sort of way. His voice seemed to relax her, like some soothing mantra.

Their shoulders brushed.

"I'm always reminiscing, Heero." At that she showed him her sincerest smile. "And some memories are more pleasant than others."

Which ones, he wondered? His pulling a gun on her? Or perhaps that time he'd nearly died right in front of her eyes? _Times_…

As if he'd inquired aloud, she added, "It was autumn during the St. Gabriel's formal, do you remember?"

Of course he did.

Heero nodded.

Relena turned her hand over, cupping his palm. "We never finished our dance, you know."

He smirked. "I was too busy saving your life."

Her laughter pulled him closer. "Good thing, too," she whispered conspiratorially. "Your dancing left something to be desired. I had to lead most of the time." It would a pointless to remind her; his training left little time for ballroom etiquette. "Maybe we should just disappear," she added as his other hand came up to brush a lock of hair off her shoulder. "They wouldn't miss me, would they?"

"Not for about two days."

She began to laugh, like it was a joke.

"Forty-six hours," he clarified.

Relena blinked at him, her mouth open slightly.

He frowned. "Give or take. Depending on when you actually left—"

She seemed to get over her shock. "How could you possibly know that?"

He blinked, as if she were asking why the Earth turned. "Time stamps," he answered.

"Time stamps of what?" Relena probed, her shoulders slumping down with curious disbelief.

"Internal meetings. Press conferences. Everything."

His words hung in the air between them.

With a rush of adrenaline— Heero could even feel it, it was palpable— Relena moved her hand so instead of clasping his, she was shaking it, like a business deal.

"I'll take it," she said with a winning smile.

"Excuse me," he deadpanned.

"I'll take it. A vacation. Forty-six hours. Give or take a few, depending on when I actually leave."

Oh, so she was mocking him too. Heero disentangled himself and took a step back, although their hands were still locked together. "I wasn't offering you a deal."

"No," Relena said, more serious. "But you can't stop me, since you know my plan will work. You just said it yourself."

A muscle in Heero's jaw twitched.

"You don't even know where you want to go."

She gave him a half-smile. "And how would you know that, Heero?" He swallowed, thinking, and then gave her a dark look. "The coast," she supplied like he'd asked her. "I want to travel down the coast. See the ocean."

Her answer surprised him.

Herro issued a single grunt of amusement. The warmth just reached his eyes. "I'll notify Une."

Relena looked crestfallen, leaning with a huff onto the railing, finally relenting his hand. "If you tell everyone then it's not like sneaking out at all." He detected an air of a spoiled debutant. A glimmer of her youth that he loved in her.

"We have to tell them," he said as he pulled out his phone, looking at the screen to type a message with his thumb. "Otherwise they might think you've been kidnapped."

"That's a laugh," Relena huffed to the scenery, "since you'll be with me."

"Hn." Then people would talk, he thought darkly as he drew up a memo to his superior. Rather, talk _more_, as it were.

* * *

**Two. Cartography by Seanan McGuire.**

The lights along the highway passed by overhead, pooling the car in little golden pools as they cruised the mostly deserted highway. She insisted they leave that night, as if it were imperative.

They would drive for a few hours and find some hotel along the roadway. That was the best thing about going incognito, Relena thought with a thrill. No stuffy hotels with men in waistcoats.

She threw a sideways glance over at her partner in crime.

Heero had insisted on driving, of course. Relena hadn't complained. Heero wasn't the co-piloting time, not usually. She could understand.

Relena let out a sigh, pulling her aching feet up one at a time and slipping off the heels she'd had to wear for the gala that night. Heero arched an eyebrow at the roadway when he heard the two loud _clunks_ of the shoes being thrown into the back seat.

Relena threw her arms up over her face and murmured, "That's more like it." After a moment she reached down to the side of her seat to find the reclining leaver, and pulled. She titled back by some degrees and let out a muffled sound of satisfaction.

Heero let out an amused snort. "I see you're going to sleep the whole way there."

"I've had a long day."

She knew he agreed by his silence, and as the sounds of the cruiser's tires against the highway filled in the gaps between them, Relena's mind filtered down through the various stressors and anxieties of her day and life, finding its eventual way back to the very center of her thoughts. And in that center? Heero Yuy.

They'd know each other for some years now, the last few intimately, and he'd opened a bit. Frank, one or two sentences explanations to her inquiries. But for the most part he was still an enigma to her. A black hole. Some uncharted nebula in the sky above them.

True, her inquiry into the salvaged OZ military records did turn up some evidence. She'd uncovered files on documents Heero had believed to be destroyed. Memos on the original Heero Yuy's assassination for instance, among others. His mother's military service record. And his step-father's.

So she knew a little bit more about him. But only fragments. Bits and pieces.

Relena looked at him through a gap between her arms.

She wanted to know _all _the parts of Heero Yuy. His time with his real father. With Doctor J. Even if it was a hopeless wish she wanted it. Even if she knew she was being selfish.

Her voice felt rough. Too many hours talking loudly over drinks and a live band. "Heero?"

"Hn?"

"Tell me a story."

"Huh?" He turned his head slightly toward her and back to the road. "About what?"

She looked up and out of the window to the nighttime sky. "Your life in space."

"Relena…"

She heard his hands grip the leather steering wheel and held her breath. Sometimes she pushed him too far… well, most times. But if she'd let her inquiry percolate, let him think it over, then sometimes he indulged her.

She suspected he enjoyed it a bit too, being able to open up someone. Even if he only confessed bits and pieces. Fragments.

Maybe it was false self-importance, but she wanted to be able to help him as much he helped her.

And Noin was right, she was a bit obsessed, but who could blame her?

Heero made a noise in the back of his throat before saying evenly, "All my stories give you nightmares."

Relena didn't press him this time, although she must have dozed off, because she awoke to a gentle rapping on her window, and sat up to find Heero standing outside.

"Second floor," he said, voice muffled by the glass.

Relena peered out at the building they were parked in front of, dragging her small pack out from the backseat as Heero opened her door; even in her haste to be rid of the city she'd still managed to grab a few of the essentials.

The night was cool, but their room was warm.

It was… nice. Not just some roadside dive. A proper motel. With turn down service and everything.

"Did you put this on the expense account?" She asked him, dropping her bag onto the chair as she eyed the bed against the wall. It wasn't like they hadn't spend the night together before, but being 'on the run' like this flavored the entire adventure with a strange thrill.

"Huh? Yeah," he answered absently, a frown pulling at his eyebrows.

Relena regarded him, noting the sober tone, but said nothing. Maybe he was just tired of driving.

"This is exciting, isn't it… Heero?"

He didn't seem to share her sentiments, going about his nightly routine without looking her way. Stripping off his clothing to cool his skin, he went into the bathroom and shut the door.

Silence settled over the room.

Oh, dear. Relena felt her heart plummet. His mind was in one of those… places. Some battlefield somewhere. Some dying city. It must have sparked in the car, from her questions.

It wasn't every night that Heero Yuy had nightmares, but sometimes he did. And sometimes she was there to witness them.

A few minutes later they lay together on their backs upon the bed, shoulders and arms touching lightly. Heero was asleep the moment his head touched the pillow, but Relena lay awake, her hands folded neatly on her stomach. Every now and again the man beside her would stir, his arm muscles tensing and his hand clenching into a fist. Sometimes his fingers would twitch too.

She assumed it had something to do with the muscle memory of piloting a mobile suit, but couldn't be sure. She'd never outright asked him and he'd never outright told her. In fact, he never really acknowledged it at all, even though sometimes, she'd hear him murmur half words and low-toned guttural sounds in the middle of the encroaching night.

A sharp order or expletive.

Her name, at times.

Sounds of pain, too.

Relena turned on her side and he stirred. She paused, but he didn't wake.

Propping herself up on one elbow she watched the shadows pass over his face, the way his brows would come together, his face tense as he battled whatever demons roamed his dreams.

She wished she could take it all away, but that would mean undoing the very things that made Heero Yuy the man she admired. Loved.

A heavy pant passed his lips, the sheet twisting in his fist.

He was a tortured, at times broken, man and she wouldn't have him any other way.

Did that make her a bad person?

As gently as she could, Relena laid her hand against his chest. She could feel his rapid heartbeat. Scooting closer, her body flush against his side; under her fingertips, his pulse raced.

Oh, Heero.

Her worry kept her up long into the night, until Heero finally quieted, turning away from her as complete exhaustion took him deep into a dreamless sleep, where even the horrors of his past couldn't reach him.

* * *

**Three. You Found Me by De'Borah.**

In the morning he slipped out early into the cold, wrapping his jacket about his shoulders. It would warm up later, but those early hours—he cast a glance at Relena, whose back was to him on the bed. Her body curled into the leftover heat of his.

The door closed with a soft click behind him.

Walking along the gangplank he took the outside stairs down to the first floor. Morning perimeter sweep.

No suspicious vehicles… other than their own. It didn't look like anyone was following them. Good. He'd be able to enjoy Relena's streak of spontaneity without looking over his shoulder so often. Life, he found, was considerably more enjoyable when the likelihood of potential threats were minimized.

Heero took a deep breath. He hadn't gotten a very restful sleep, but he'd survived on much less than six hours before, so he brushed the fatigue aside. Nothing his training couldn't handle. It had been much worse during his time with his Gundam, when they were on the run, sleeping amongst the trees. Well, not necessarily sleeping.

Turning back towards where they had parked, a voice spoke brightly into the morning.

"You're up early, Heero."

He looked up. "Huh?"

Relena was leaning against the second floor, her wrists crossed where they rested on the metal railing. It reminded him of that time, on the tarmac at Sanq; when she'd bent upon her arms to look up at him as he disembarked with Quatre.

It made him stop. It made him stare at her with the same expression he'd seen _her_ wear during their encounters in their youth. And not just because of the way her hair was more unkempt on one side, her eyes still heavy from sleep.

"Relena."

"Hm?" Her eyebrows jumped up, a small smile just breaking across her lips.

Heero Yuy had toyed with the idea of God before. At times he couldn't be sure. What God would rip a boy from his mother and teach him to kill? Let him believe his life was worth nothing more than a battle for revenge? But watching Relena up on that balcony…

He had been rendered mute, but Relena took up the slack. "Are you ready to go?" She asked, eyeing his jacket and his proximity to the car.

"Yeah."

"I'll be right down."

"Don't… rush," he finished to her back as she turned inside. But she was all too eager to be on her way.

"I have to maximize my time," she explained as she slipped into the car, the engine turning over beneath them.

"You? Sticking to a schedule?" He murmured absently as they turned onto the highway.

"I try," she huffed, folding her arms on where the window was rolled down, leaning her head into the wind, "and that's what counts."

He couldn't argue with that.

They drove for the better part of the day, stopping here and there whenever Relena spotted a something from the car.

Green rice fields reflecting the clouds.

An open-air market in one of the coastal towns.

Near sunset she'd given a rather loud start.

"Oh! Heero! We have to stop!"

He took his eyes off the road for just a moment to glance her way. "Huh?" Again?

She pointed out her window towards a sign that flashed by too fast for him to read.

"A roadside shrine," she said excitedly, like she's never seen one before. "We _have to_ stop."

He frowned, glancing at the dashboard clock. "I thought you wanted to see the ocean."

"We have plenty of time, Heero! Please?"

Well, he couldn't deny her. He took the off-ramp down the little country road, stopping off to the shoulder under a canopy of overhanging trees. The entrance was barely visible from the road if it weren't for the little string of colored flags draped over the stone archway.

Relena was out of the car before he'd even unbuckled.

"Ah, that feels good," he heard her murmur, and looked over to see her bent, touching her toes to release any cramps from sitting in the car.

Heero turned away to hide his small smile. Once again Relena had done it. She looked… _unreal_. Like she didn't really belong in his reality at all. He'd been with her through some of the most turbulent times in the last decade. In their _lives_.

Sometimes he wondered what kind of man he would be today if he had met Relena as a child. If, by some miraculous twist of fate, he was born on the earth with her or she on the colonies with him. It was hard to convince himself that he would have accepted Doctor J's request if she'd already been by his side.

"Oh, look at this!"

Heero came around the front of the car to see her disappear up some stone steps and into the thick trees and bushes overcrowding the path. Glancing up to the faded, threadbare flags as he passed under, Heero was reminded of his brief stint around the Japanese countryside after the war…. between his last kill and when he joined the Preventers.

He'd needed the time to himself… but he would be lying if he denied that, at times, he'd wished Relena had been there with him.

He caught her up to her at the top of the stone staircase and paused before the last step. Relena was standing the slightly rotted out roof of the tiny shrine, peering up as if immersed in childish wonder.

Looking at back him, she sighed and smiled.

"Do you remember how to do it?" Heero asked.

"Uh-huh. But," and she colored slightly and her smile deepened, "I don't have any change."

His chuckled slightly, walking forward and digging some coins from his pocket, passing them over. Relena's warm hand covered his and he had the desire to suddenly clutch it for dear life.

He didn't.

She might have taken off work, but he was still her bodyguard. Affections could come later, not when they were out in the open.

Relena turned back towards the shrine, tossing one of the coins into the little wooden box, reaching up with her hand to pull the red rope hanging down from the rafters. Giving it a little shake, rusty bells jangled softly. Heero heard her clap and watched her bow as she made a noise of contentment.

Sometimes he wished he_ could_ give in. Hold her close as they strolled around the Capitol. But her protection was paramount, and his… fantasies of a normal life were just that. Fantasies.

But, watching Relena turn back towards him, framed in the archway of the little shrine, Heero mentally kicked himself. How was he even complaining?

"What did you wish for?" He asked her as she came forward, her hands clasped behind her back.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh, I can't tell you that."

They descended the staircase, Heero's hand traveling down to his firearm as they stepped back onto the road. Just a precaution.

"So," he said in a low rumble, reaching instead to take out his keys, looking over to Relena as he rounded towards the driver's side. "You're having fun."

"Oh Heero," she replied, in a tone that made it feel like birds had taken flight in the pit of his stomach, "you have no idea."

* * *

**Four. I Will Follow You Into The Dark by Jayme Dee.**

The second night they stopped at a roadside inn, with a flickering neon sign and a front-desk clerk asleep at his desk, late night game shows playing on the portable TV beside him. Heero had leaned over the counter into the little office, dropping the necessary payment on the in-take sheet and grabbing a key off one of the pegs next to the door.

Relena smiled to herself as they trekked down the length of the building to their room. As Heero lifted up his arm to pull the light bulb chain, she saw the handle of his firearm sticking out the back waistband of his jeans.

With a barely audible, "Humph," he turned to her after surveying the room and said, "You're sure you want to stay here?"

She looked over at the peeling wallpaper and threadbare rug; it was a mile away from the hotel that had been booked for yesterday's event. "It's… perfect," she said, and she meant it.

In the time it took for her to brush her teeth, staring at her reflection in the cracked-glass bathroom mirror, and emerge again, Heero was already asleep. In the single bed against the wall he's stripped save for his shorts, head pressed against the pillow, not even bothering to slip under the thin sheet.

Coming around the other side, her weight dipped the mattress, but he didn't seem to notice.

Leaning over just slightly, Relena caught a glimpse of his face; boyish in the way it was relaxed with sleep. For the moment, at least, he seemed to be free of his demons.

Relena lay down on her side, her back barely touching Heero's shoulder as she turned away from him.

Seeing his face screwed up with pain, if only from some brief, fleeting nightmare… it reminded her of other times. Other instances. When the pain had been very real. Brief encounters with death even after the war.

_An echoing bang rang out, drawing a chorus of shrieks and gasps from the audience. Relena ducked against the podium as an arm pushed her away. He was so fast- always so fast. Moments later the rest of the security team jumped into action, swarming the man who had fired from the back row. _

_In the immediate aftermath, Relena thought the blood spots staining her jacket were her own. That she'd been shot. Her hands clasped her stomach, but all she felt was the scrunched fabric of her jacket her own heavy breathing._

_No. It was-_

_There came a hissing curse, and Heero's hand, still clutching his firearm, shot out to grip the edge of the podium near where she'd taken refuge. "Tch. Damn it."_

_On his side, just missing the protective Kevlar vest, a stain of blood began blooming down the fabric of his shirt. _

_She'd taken a quiet, gasping breath at the sight of him. "Heero..."_

"_Secure the gunman," he said through gritted teeth, not looking her way. His bloodied fingers reached up to press the coms device nestled in his ear, and as his hand went back to his side, there were ghost prints of blood against his hairline._

"_Heero!"_

_His knee buckled slightly, but by the time she reached out to steady him, he had puled himself up again using the podium for leverage. _

"_The bullet," he clipped shortly, "did it pass through?"_

"_I- I don't," she began to say, but another Agent had hopped jumped up onto the stage and tried to usher her away. She resisted, watching Heero reach around to feel for an exit wound, and watching as he cursed when he didn't find one._

_Duo had suddenly burst out from behind the stage curtains, looking frantic. Relena watched as the other man wrapped Heero's arm around his neck, his own going around Heero's waist for support. Duo had given her a wide-eyed look— shock and desperation— before the situation completely devolved into chaos._

_The event had been within the city limits, well within EMT distance from the hospital. Heero had been admitted and his vitals had been stabilized, but Une had put him on leave for the better part of a month, even if Heero was on his feet a few days after._

"_He's one lucky son of a bitch," Duo ha told her outside the hospital room. "Guess that's no surprise to you anymore, huh Princess?"_

Out of all the life and death situations Relena had found herself in over the years, Heero Yuy taking a bullet for her and nearly bleeding out in front of her eyes had been one of the most terrifying.

She knew, one day, that death would claim them. Either together, a best-case scenario, or separately. If Heero went first, if he died in the line of duty, Relena knew she would languish on. Half a woman. Half a life.

On the other hand, Relena had no idea what Heero would do if she was the one who went first. For everything she thought was devotion, she didn't really know which scenario to imagine.

Lying there in the dark, Relena came to the sobering conclusion that most likely, neither of them would languish into old age. And certainly not with each other. Their deaths would not be some quiet slip into the night—instead it would most likely be heralded by some publicly traumatic event. Broadcast for the world to see. Heero falling dead to protect her, or her own body, slumped against the podium like those politicians before her.

Relena tried to conjure up a fuzzy what-if image of them growing old together, but she couldn't do it.

One day, they would be without each other.

With a noise of overwhelming emotion she turned her face fully into the pillow, clutching her hands close to her chest with her eyes screwed shut.

"What is it?"

Relena stiffened, wiping her eyes, and rolled over to see Heero watching her, looking awake and alert despite his heavy sleep minutes before. His arm was bent under his head, his brow drawn in with concern.

She smiled ruefully. "Just… bad thoughts."

A muscle in his jaw twitched. "You were happy earlier."

"I know, I know," she wiped her eyes again, if just to hide her face. "I can't help it."

He nodded. He understood.

Turning on his shoulder to face her, his hand came up to trace down the side of her face. "You should try to get some sleep. You don't want to miss the ocean tomorrow."

Her heart softened, troubling thoughts near banished. For someone who had very little close contact with people in his youth, Heero always brought her comfort.

"Don't leave me," she whispered, turning her cheek against the palm of his hand. "I couldn't bare it if you did."

"Hn," he replied, his fingers tracing down her shoulder, then around to her back, providing a soft warm weight of comfort against the base of her spine. "You don't need to worry."

* * *

**Five. Sea Breeze by Tyrone Wells.**

They only had to drive a short distance in the morning. Knowing their journey was coming to a close they took their time, even if the little motel wasn't exactly the most inviting of venues. They stopped for a quick breakfast in a nearby town before starting out again. Pastries and coffee.

But as they drove, the moon inside the car changed. It had been a long time since either of them had been back, but things were starting to…

"This all looks terribly familiar," Relena sighed nostalgically as she looked out the windshield at the ocean. They'd hooked onto the coast road a few miles back, and crisp smell of brine filling the cruiser's cabin through the open windows.

"Hn," He replied without much elaboration. It was familiar to him, too, but he couldn't quite place it. That is, he _couldn't,_ until a small jet broke through the clouds above them and continued on towards the runway they still couldn't see.

They were near a private airfield.

Private airfield? Southern Japan?

A trickle of something cold wormed its way into Heero's stomach.

Relena must have picked up on it too.

"Did you… mean to drive us here?" She asked in a light tone, one where he really couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"No," was his reply, because it was the truth. He'd been driving on instinct. He had only mean to take her as far away from her political life as their time together allowed; hadn't meant to bring her back to this beach in particular.

_The_ beach.

The one where they had first met.

They parked along side the road alongside the chain-link fence. Heero stayed behind the wheel even after the engine was turned off, watching Relena slide from her seat and out the open passenger door.

"Aren't you coming?" She asked him once she'd come along the other side of the car, leaning her arms on his open window. Heero looked dubiously out at the water. The ocean made soft _shursh_ing sounds as it broke against the sand. "You can't have driven all this way just to sit there," she added with a slight frown.

In the distance, there came the roar of jet engines.

He locked her in his gaze. "Are you sure this is where you want to stop?" It wasn't a very beautiful beach. They could keep going, or backtrack a ways up the coast.

"No, it's fine," she stood back up, depressing his door handle for him, even thought he made no move to exit the cab. "Fond memories."

Fond?

It had been terrifying, even for him, and he'd trained for years for that mission, and yet it was one of the most frightened he'd even been. Well, he had been a child then, too, but still….

Heero huffed, but took her invitation to stand by her side.

There was no way he would have ever ventured back down here, unwittingly or otherwise, without Relena. She made him act strangely sometimes, in ways that were unknown even to himself.

He remembered ejecting from the cockpit as his Gundam sank deeper into the ocean. It wasn't that he couldn't swim—Doctor J had trained him to at least stay afloat—but the adrenalin pumping through his body coupled with the fact that _he had made it, finally_, and Heero had been more than a tad hasty in his ejection.

He couldn't really recall what exactly he had hit on his way to the surface. Looking back, it might have been part of the Leo's breastplate, but there was no way to be sure; he'd lost consciousness before reaching the surface. There were plenty of situations where Heero couldn't understand how or why he had survived them. That first one, that first time he had arrived on mankind's cradle, was one of them.

He swallowed, and watched as Relena walked up to the gate and pushed it open, peering down at the concrete staircase that lead towards the sand.

She glanced back at him, backtracked towards him a few steps, and took his hand.

"Come on," her tone was soothing. Light. It sucked him in, and like so many times before, he followed Relena wherever she lead him. It could not be helped. He was a rock hurtling from space, caught in her gravity. He was a mobile suit falling towards the Earth.

Silently she led him down the concrete blocks, and he remembered running up those same stairs, hurdling a paramedic over the side of the railing.

_Did you see?_

Heero glanced back toward Relena.

He'd been so _angry_ with her.

Before they hit sand, she let go of him, their fingers tailing off as she stepped down. Heero paused, watching as the sun played off the hair lying over her perfectly postured shoulders. Muscle memories from a life she used to lead.

Before him.

The way she held her chin up, towards the water, as if greeting the scene after a long absence.

"You know, it's funny," she said, in a voice that carried to him on the breeze, "all this time and we were never really properly introduced. And now we're back here again where it all started, aren't we, Heero?"

The wind blew softly. He watched her, and said nothing.

Relena took a deep breath, turning towards him, her hand clasped lightly against her breast.

She caught his gaze, extending her hand. "My name is Relena Darlian. And you are?"

He cocked an eyebrow in her direction, hands clenched in his pockets. What was she getting at? Making fun of him again? But no, she didn't look like she was joking.

Heero stepped down, taking her hand, but lowering it back down. "The sea air's gone to your head."

Relena pouted, turning slightly away from him. Her words were laced with disappointment, "You couldn't even play along?"

He frowned too, coming up behind her, moving so he looked out at the water from over her shoulder. "You already know who I am, Relena."

"I know who you are now, at least."

Who he was now.

Like the other bits, the bits before he met her, didn't matter.

He knew she hadn't mean it like that, and he knew those bits _were_ important in shaping who he was when he washed up the beach. On _this_ beach. But there was something to be said about leaving the past behind, letting it wash away with the tide. He didn't have to hold onto them, he could let them go. Because of her.

"What are you thinking about at this very moment, Heero?" Relena ask as she stared over the open water.

"How you've changed me."

She turned; but he was standing so close, her shoulder just collided with his chest. Anchored there, she looked up at him, her hair brushing into her face. She caught the strands, pulling them back, revealing to him upturned lips and bright, excited eyes.

In that moment he knew she was in love with him. He'd known it before, all along actually, but whenever he was reminded of it, it always took him by surprise.

A small smile pulled at a corner of his mouth as he cupped the side of her face with his hand, bending slightly to meet her lips with his.

* * *

**Six. Bonnie & Clyde by Martina Sorbara.**

They watched the tide roll in and out for the better part of the afternoon, nibbling at leftover breakfast as they sat with their backs against the high retaining wall. Charter jets and other aircraft caught the light like flying fish as they descended towards the airbase nearby.

It was all very… fragile. Beautiful, but fragile, she decided.

More than once, both during the war and after, Relena had felt a thrill of uncertainty. Was this the path she was destined to take? But breathing in the salted air, Heero beside her, maybe this _was_ the life she was supposed to lead.

Well, it didn't matter what she was _supposed_ to do, she reasoned, because _this_—whatever it was—was definitely happening. She was along for the ride.

"We'd better leave soon." Heero's voice mingled with the sounds of the waves, his fingers overlapping hers where they rested on the sand. "If you're to make it back in time."

She nodded, and he led the way back up the steps and through the metal gate towards the road

Leaning against the cruiser's side panel, Relena looked through the fence to the ocean and smiled, bending slightly to wipe sand from her shoes.

"Do we really have to go back?" It was a joke, but Heero's brow knit in confusion. Before he could answer her, Relena straightened up and turned her head away from the scenery, shoulders dipping down. "I suppose that's a silly question, isn't it?"

He hummed a low note of accent, and so Relena took a deep breath, stretching her arms up before turning toward the passenger door.

They sped along the highway, back the way they came, taking as many detours as they could to keep the ocean to their right. Relena rested her chin upon her folded arms, looking out the window.

The water glistened in the light, the scenery slowly moving by them, the view punctuated by a few trees here and there.

She glanced at Heero over her shoulder; he was watching the road as he drove. It could have been said that he looked determined, brooding, but that was more or less his natural state. To Relena, he looked calm. At peace.

Life was… both incredibly cruel and incredibly benevolent. By rights they shouldn't even be together… be _alive_. The war, which had claimed both their youths, should have claimed their lives as well. But it hadn't. They were left, together, to pick up the pieces after the dust had settled.

They deserved each other at least, she thought, with a small smile. That much could not be doubted.

"Are you alright?"

He must have felt her gaze; he didn't take his eyes off the road.

"I'm just watching you, isn't that alright?"

He snorted. "You can do as you like."

And when he said it, she believed him. Anything she liked. She _could_ run away, if she really wanted to. Heero wouldn't stop her. She could reach out, just like she was doing now, and touch his arm. Because she _wanted to_.

At her fingers tracing light on his arm, Heero reacted, just a brief stiffening of his muscles before he relaxed again. She saw him swallow, his hands re-adjusting their grip on the steering wheel. For being still so dangerous, Relena found great pleasure in flustering him. Even if it was for just a moment, just a little bit.

"Did you enjoy yourself?" He murmured absently.

"Yes, of course. It's always nice to be able to spend time with you outside of work." She thought a moment. "I didn't mean what I said earlier. About running away."

His voice rumbled, "I know," and his eyebrow quirked. "You're committed to your cause."

She gripped the fabric of his sleeve. "_Our_ cause."

"Huh?"

"You helped me build this," and by _this_ she meant the entire Earth Sphere, and what it had become. "This nation is as much yours as it is mine. It belongs to the soldiers, to the people, the ones who have died and the ones who continue to live on." She huffed a little laugh. "I suppose we owe it to them to keep living, so their deaths were not in vain."

Heero made a noise in the back of his throat. "Live for others long enough and you cease to live for yourself."

"Oh, trust me," Relena leaned over the center console, the seatbelt pressing against her chest, "I fully intend to live _my_ life. I don't have to throw away who I am when you're here with me."

He gave her a rare smile. "Is that so?"

"It is," she insisted, before moving back to stare out the window, at the ocean shrinking as the road curved inland.

They had survived this long together, and even if they didn't know, or were uncertain about the future, they were by each other's side. And if an assassin's bullet eventually did find her, someday, she knew he'd be by her side until the end. It was morbid maybe, but she'd seen enough death in her life to make a certain kind of peace with it.

A life spent by his side, even in part, was a rare gift.

And Relena fully intended to make the most of it.

* * *

**Fin.**

* * *

A/n- As always, I do not own Gundam Wing. Thank you to everyone who helped organize this year's RBB, thanks also to Ryuu whose songs perfectly capture Heero and Relena's ever-changing, multifaceted waltz toward and around each other, and finally a BIG thanks to peachandbetty for the beta.

Thanks for reading, and please review!

**Ryuu's complete fanmix is as follows:**

The Real World by Adam Young

Cartography by Seanan McGuire

You Found Me (The Voice Performance) by De'Borah

Fever by A Fine Frenzy

We've Only Just Begun by Run Kid Run

Citadel by Anna Nalick

I Will Follow You Into the Dark by Jayme Dee

Don't Give It Up by Diobah Donaghy

Of Dust and Nations by Thrice

Sea Breeze by Tyrone Wells

One Girl Revolution by Superchick

The Laws Have Changed by The New Pornographers

Bonnie & Clyde by Martina Sorbara

Glorious Dawn by Carl Sagan (ft. Stephen Hawking)


End file.
